Hasn't It Always Been About Status? — What's the day? What you doing? — How's your mood in that song? — when it passes right by me — It's behind me, now it's gone. — Fireworks, Animal Collective — Facebook's announcement that they are opening up API access to user's status updates (and more) is big news.

Facebook Opens Status API, Say Goodbye to Twitter — Tonight Facebook has made a number of updates to the Facebook platform one of which is the opening of status updates. In order to get Facebook statuses, you no longer need to use a session ID to access statuses.

Not Everyone Is Cheering as Wi-Fi Takes to the Air — For all the annoyance of being crammed into an aluminum tube at 35,000 feet with a bunch of strangers, air travel has offered one benefit: the ability to tell bosses and colleagues, “I'll be on a flight, so you won't be able to reach me.”

College Music Service Ruckus.com Shuts Down — Ruckus, an online music service geared towards universities that allows students to stream an unlimited amount of music, has apparently just closed its doors. The service was designed to appeal to college students, offering a legal alternative …

The Failure of the Open Field — It's great that Apple has created a new platform with the iPhone and the App Store. But it's also a ripping indictment of the personal computer industry—and cellphone industry—thus far. And not to be too nice to Apple: The beautiful stuff we're seeing …

Google Latitude — Over and over, I've written about new interfaces to search. Google's recent introduction of Latitude gets us closer. A few snippets and thoughts: — First, the big type on Google's site says this: “See where your friends are on a map.”

AT&T's 3G MicroCell to patch iPhone dead zones — iPhone 3G users stuck in an AT&T dead zone at home or at work will soon be able to plug in a device that provides a strong local signal for up to 10 phones and four simultaneous voice or data connections via a connection to broadband Internet.

OLPC discontinues “Change the World” — In a stunning moment of irony, OLPC has discontinued “Change the World”. — In an email that leaked out onto the grassroots mailing list, OLPC quietly announced the end of the “Change the World” program previously known as “Give Many” …

Canaccord: Three New iPhones Expected in 2009 — Three new iPhones could be coming in 2009. The first is a 32G iPhone in multiple colours that is likely to arrive during the next six months. Next up is a lower-cost handset based on the 2.5G iPhone, which is targeted for China and India.

Steve Ballmer's Comments at Democratic Caucus Retreat — U.S. House of Representatives Democratic Caucus Retreat — Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer — STEVE BALLMER: Well, I want to thank Jay, I want to thank the speaker and all of you for the opportunity to be here today and chat with you.